Mulberry Disease/Virus & Fruit Drop (forum)

Luke :) starts with ...
I have the same problem as many people on garden forums around the net with my Dwarf Black Mullberry, premature fruit drop.
About 4/5th's fall off.

My mullberry is in in a 510mm 57L container, reaching 1.6m in height, (cut back once, in half) and at 2.5 years of age.
The roots are easily reaching the bottom of the container.

Although the mulberry looks fine, it is definitely under stress from being somewhat root bound and therefore not having access to enough water for healthy fruit production.
The problem might also be to much Nitrogen, favouring leaf growth over fruit production.


But my main problem is in need of a diagnosis.
I have some interesting looking leaves emerging on my Dwarf Mulberry, mottled yellow rings forming on on couple of new leaves.
Another member had the same problem with there Dwarf Black Mulberry on this thread:
https://www.daleysfruit.com.au/forum/dwarf-mulberry-tree/
but no one got back to them, there problem seemed to be more advanced.

Is it a disease/virus or a nutrient issue maybe?
Genetic susceptibility or weakness to certain diseases/viruses??
The patterning looks like a Mosaic Virus which one of my figs have.
I think mulberry and figs are closely related, maybe the virus can be transmited between species?
I will spray copper and see if the new growth returns to normal over the coming weeks.

There are pics at the bottom for people to determine what it could be or if they have seen this before with the mulberry species.


Also I'm thinking of getting another black mulberry and turning the Dwarf Black Mulberry into a bonsai, as I find that what fruit does remain of the dwarf is to tart for my taste.

I'm looking for that classic mulberry taste from my childhood :)

Does anyone know what differences there are between the Beenleigh Black variety and the English Black Mulberry?
Particularly in taste and overall size of fruit.

Pictures - Click to enlarge

Picture: 1
Picture: 2
Picture: 3
Picture: 4

Time: 8th October 2017 5:05pm

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SproutMeKate1 says...
hi Luke,

fascinating images! I was initially wondering if it was a nutrient issue too, however deficiencies tend to be more associated with leaf veins in terms of the pattern of yellowing. I'd recommend researching mulberry mosiac virus, as the early virus presentation looks very much like your leaves.

my approach to getting the classic childhood mulberry was to check out the gardens of everyone we knew during mulberry season. first there was taste-test, then the discussion on fruit quality, followed by getting cuttings ;-)

Kate

Time: 13th October 2017 10:02pm

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Luke :) says...
I like your style Kate, I'll make sure to look around for some prime mulberry trees and take some cuttings.
And I like how you pointed out that nutrient deficiencies are in relation to vein structure in terms of colouring of the leaf, good visual tip that one, cheers.

Also the question is still open, if anyone does know the specific taste differences between the two black mulberry varieties on offer from Daleys, do feel free to share :)


Well I've been doing some research on what could be affecting my mulberry and so far it could be:
-------------------------------------
1. Mulberry Mosaic Virus
2. Mulberry Vein Banding Associated Virus
3. Mullberry Ringspot Virus

All of these viruses I believe to be Tospovirus related viruses.
There seems to be no cure for the viruses but you can control their spread by controlling thrips and mites, which transmit the viruses.

Fascinating stuff.

Also I've found out that if the infected plant has adequate nutrition and the correct PH you can keep virus symptoms to a minimum, aswell as keeping the thrips and mites under control.

If anyone has any other opinions on what the problem might be, do share!
I'm still in the process of looking for any other possible causes.


Time: 15th October 2017 9:58am

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ADL says...
Hi Luke, I stumbled across your post as I was trying to troubleshoot what might be wrong with my mulberry. I have the exact same leaf pattern (I put the tree in the ground last fall - I am in the Bay Area, California). I wasn't sure if it was the ringspot or mosaic virus, but I just uprooted my tree. Wonder if you found a solution to your problem, particularly about not transmitting the disease to other trees in the yard. Many thanks!!

I also found another link on the web which seems to have identified this.
https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/First-report-of-Prunus-necrotic-ringspot-virus-and-Skelton-Fowkes/34db3c5bdd2644de92486f6b58724f1d2c538b56

Time: 12th May 2021 6:35am

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Original Post was last edited: 12th May 2021 8:32am
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